GoKawiilPankil Shah / Android Authority
After years of using Android, I decided to spend a full day with an iPhone to see if I was missing out on anything. We’ve all likely had that itch before, and I finally decided to act on it.
I was already familiar with iPhones and the major differences between the two platforms, but I had never used one as my primary device. And when I finally did, the experience was very different from what I expected.
For context, I switched to an iPhone 16 Pro. More importantly, it didn’t take long to realize that despite years of competition and cross-platform influence, the gap in certain areas hasn’t really closed. If anything, it feels more noticeable now, which makes the idea of switching far less appealing to this longtime Android user.
What would you miss most if you switched to an iPhone? 40 votes Android-only apps 10 % Multitasking features 23 % Notification controls 18 % Customization 50 %
The iPhone is terrible at certain things, and it’s not easy to ignore them
Pankil Shah / Android Authority
Spending a full day with the iPhone showed me what it does well, but it also highlighted its weak spots — one of the most obvious being customization. Android has always had the edge there, so I expected that going in. But the longer I used the iPhone, the more I realized how much I actually rely on that flexibility.
On Android, I can try hundreds of launchers, and each completely changes how my phone looks and behaves. They also unlock gestures, icon packs, and layout tweaks that you simply don’t get out of the box. And if you have a Samsung phone like me, Good Lock takes it to a whole different level. It lets you tweak the quick settings panel, design a keyboard from scratch, hide status bar icons, and more. On the iPhone, you just don’t get that level of control. There’s some customization, but it doesn’t come close to what Android offers.
Pankil Shah / Android Authority
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